They Handed You The Keys To Fixed Ops… But Never Taught You How To Drive The Business.

Dear Friend,

You probably didn't grow up dreaming about running a dealership service department. Maybe you loved cars and how they worked. (You've probably always been the one who could figure things out.)

Then one day, because you were top-notch, tough, and worked harder than everyone else, you were rewarded with even more responsibility.

The shop. The team. The numbers. The CSI. The gross. The net. The ELR. The open ROs. The customers who are mad. The tech who wants to quit. The advisor who's burned out. The GM who wants answers NOW. The owner who wants more profit.

All of it. All the time. All at once. All just another day at the office.

That is a serious, significant level of pressure. And most people in the store have no idea what it feels like.

They say a little hard work never killed anybody. Trouble is, hard work alone can't save you from a crazy, downward spiral where nothing's working the way you know it can and should.

You've got the best technicians in the business but you're still not making a profit. The GM's on your back, you're working insane hours trying to stay on top of everything, and it's a daily struggle trying to retake control of your department (and your life).

The Pressure's Always ON To Grow The Business

The military has a strict policy. Up or out. Which means you're either exceeding expectations and rising through the ranks… or it's out the door. There's no middle ground.

Being a Service Manager's no different. You're either kicking ass growing the business, increasing CSI, ELR, Net to Gross — or you're out on the street looking for what's next.

And if you're like most, there wasn't anyone holding your hands as you learned the ropes. It was dig and scratch and claw whatever information you could find wherever you could.

Kind of like swimming lessons in the old days. They didn't sign you up for group lessons in the city's municipal water park. Nope. Big brother chucked you into the lake with a grin and some encouragement: "Go figure it out!"

But the idea you can "fake it 'till you make it"… not a chance. There's no faking it when you can't read a financial report, or determine how ELR is actually calculated.

At some point, you need to really understand the rules of the game and how they work… so you can find the profit leaks hiding inside the latest financial statement… turn operational chaos into reliable, predictable systems… and know how to train your advisors to build trust fast, sell the right work, and stop making customers feel like they're being hustled.

You've done a pretty good job on your own. But to get to that next level — and put an end once and for all to spending every day feeling like you're just fighting fires — you need help from people who have already been there, done that, and come out on top.

That's Why I Created SDR LIVE Academy

I'm Chris Collins, and I know what you're going through, and what it's like to face an uphill battle.

I started in the car business washing cars at a Seattle dealership while I was trying to make it as a drummer. I worked hard, got put in charge of that team, and learned to let nothing stop me. Even after getting passed over 7 times, I finally got that dream job as a service advisor.

I kept rising through the ranks to Service Manager, and eventually all the way to becoming the General Manager of the #1 BMW dealership in the world.

I've learned the hard way what most Service Managers eventually learn: the better you get at fixing problems, the more they hand you. But nobody teaches you how to run the business.

And based on what I've seen over the last twenty-five years working on the front lines in service departments all over North America — service managers, sales managers, everybody in fixed ops — almost universally they are the least trained people in the dealership.

One of the guys in our coaching group told me he'd been a Service Manager for 14–15 years and nobody had ever taught him anything that actually moved the needle.

Sure, they may get some training on how to manage the dock and inventory. But they DON'T get anything on how to manage people, how to lead, and how to dream a bigger vision.

Most advisor training out there was created by sales trainers overlaying their stuff and calling it advisor training. But service speaks a different language than sales. It requires a different mindset. It involves a different relationship with the customer.

Maybe that works in car sales or selling suits or furniture. But you can't do that in service. The trust line is so delicate. That's what a lot of "consultants" in our industry miss.

When you get promoted and you start to move up and you're in this glass box in management, you forget that the war is won or lost at the service counter. It's all about connection and trust and speed.

That "pet the dog" interaction with customers — showing real interest in their lives in how you answer the phone, how you greet people, how you follow up with them — has to happen on the front lines.